


Ariel's Binding

by Lancre_witch



Category: Legacy of Kain
Genre: Canonical Character Death, F/M, Light Angst, mostly takes place in Soul Reaver 1 era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-17
Updated: 2017-11-17
Packaged: 2019-02-03 16:47:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12752241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lancre_witch/pseuds/Lancre_witch
Summary: The empire and the Pillars had both crumbled, along with her hopes. Only two things were constant in Ariel’s existence; her imprisonment and Raziel.





	Ariel's Binding

Kain sat upon his throne at the base of the ruined pillars for the first time in- how long? Ariel didn’t know. She had lost all sense of time in this purgatory. No night, no day, no way to touch, to feel; only this. For eternity. It was hard to remember what it had been like before. Her life had been such a brief flash of existence it seemed almost unreal. Was there ever anything but this?

Kain had not moved for some time. He appeared to be waiting. A tattered memory nudged her, reminder of the day five centuries past when he ordered his firstborn’s execution. There was the same look on his face, the same sense of history unfolding. Ariel had nowhere to go. She watched and waited.

The small, raggedy creature which entered was important somehow, she was certain. She had seen him before, long ago. It was so long that clouds were drawn across the memories, but they left a bad taste in her mind. Kain’s creation by his own admission, was his only purpose to torment her?

It was too much to hope that Kain would die in the fight. Had he killed the little thing with the shattering of the Reaver? Somehow she thought not. She shifted into the spectral realm to question it.

He was polite enough, the first kindness she had been shown since Nupraptor… No, that wasn’t something she wanted to remember. The important thing was that she and Raziel shared a common enemy, that if he was successful in his vengeance she would be free.

 

Raziel returned soon after, lost in this dying land. He sought his brother Zephon, long imprisoned in the cathedral he had once conquered, if Kain was to be believed. It was the only information she had and she gave it to him gladly.

He came back to her victorious, full of questions, in search of long hidden secrets.

“How do you know these things, Ariel?”

“Your maker occasionally deigned to tell me of his _great empire_ ” – she spat the words from her mouth like hot ashes – “but less so in recent years.” There was a hint of vicious satisfaction in her voice as she said, “He was disgusted by your brother.”

“As well he might be. Hideously deformed, he had become one with the cathedral’s stones.” He proceeded to describe in florid language and unnecessary detail his encounters with Zephon and his brood. Once again, memories of Nupraptor stirred. Overdramatic, slightly morbid, yet strangely charming, Raziel was the best company she had had in centuries, not that he had a great deal of competition.

All too soon, he left her once again and she tried not to care that he may not return.

 

This time, he didn’t even greet her, just slumped at the base of the broken pillars, head in hands. She sat beside him, bitter experience telling her not to bother reaching out. Her hand would pass straight through him, as it did with all else in her isolation.

“Do you remember the Sarafan?” he asked at length.

“Barely. I was born not long after the old saints died.”

“I found their tomb. _My_ tomb. What am I, Ariel? What have I become? A fratricide, a murderer, am I no better than I was then?”

How to answer that, to give hope in this place of despair? “There is seldom a reward for those who do what needs to be done. I remember the Sarafan as honourable, noble even. There is no shame in having been one in life, less so one of the great martyred saints. You must not lose sight of your aim. Remember Nosgoth is dying, and at Kain’s hand.”

“Believe me, there is nothing I want more than to see Kain dead.” The old fire had returned to him. “I shall bring you his head on a platter.”

 

What he brought to her next was word of a massacre. Strange that he should weep for those slaughtered by another’s hand. Still, she listened and tried to hide her glee that another two of Kain’s sons had fallen.

“This may be the last time I speak with you, Ariel. I know where Kain hides, and with his death you will be free. Would it be selfish to say I wish we had more time together?”

“Yes. Would it be selfish of me to say I wish you had spent the last five centuries here after your death?”

Raziel shook his head. “It would have been kinder than the abyss. And I would have had you.” He twined their fingers together and tried to believe he had no regrets when it was time for him to leave.

 

Ariel waited for the end, tossed upon the currents of memory. She wondered if this was her soul finally slipping free from the world. There was a sense of displacement, of timelessness, of perfect clarity, and she knew then the meaning of it all, for Raziel, for Kain, and for herself.

“The veil is lifted.” She looked at the wraith with new found vision. “Release me, Raziel. The Soul Reaver has the power. Release us all.”

Raziel took her hand, and as their souls joined together, her final thought was how fortunate she was to be with him for eternity.


End file.
